


Somewhere Between

by actualraptcr



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Eddie and Venom are soft boys in love, M/M, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Romance, i have no idea what im doing, im just jumping on the Venom band wagon bc i lov him, other marvel characters may appear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 04:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16277582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actualraptcr/pseuds/actualraptcr
Summary: He doesn't know when exactly they went from simply being Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote sharing his body, to Eddie and Venom, but he kinda likes how things have turned out.





	1. Quiet Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first time I'm posting anything on here and of course it's Venom/Eddie fic because we been knew I'm messy - no idea where this is going, but it's probably going to explore Eddie and Venom's developing relationship in the gap between the explosion and the end credit scene bc it sure looks to me like those assholes became a cohesive unit by then

If there was one thing to having your name plastered all over the national news, it was seeing who actually cared about you. Within hours of the report going live Eddie’s phone had been buzzing a crazy amount, texts and voicemails from various extended family and old college friends who hadn’t spoken to him in literal years - all clamoring for his side of the story. Freezing cold, still in his half-ruined wet clothes and reeling from the near miss for both his own life and the fate of the freaking planet, Eddie didn’t have the energy to answer any of it. Not that he could, with the Texas sized NDA he’d had to sign after being fished out and in no uncertain terms told to go home and forget he’d seen anything at the Life Foundation.

At least they didn’t know about his alien stowaway. He's pretty sure they'd have been a little less easy about letting him drag his tired body back home unaccosted.

The symbiote is a quiet weight in the space Eddie has quickly come to associate with them, clearly either sleeping (did Venom need to sleep?) or recovering from the explosion and fire. From having to pull themselves back together in the water, clinging to Eddie's clothes against the subtle current. He missed the aggressive and overly curious voice in his head and that's a clear sign that he needs sleep like crazy. Imagine missing effectively talking to yourself. He grazed a hand over his face, fingers digging into his eyes to wipe away the tired angry tears gathering there and banish the encroaching itchiness. Every muscle screamed exhaustion, and God how Eddie just wanted to give in.

But he had to go through at least some of the motions of trying to get his life in order. Starting with a scalding shower and whatever leftovers he can find in his fridge that won't have Venom throwing a fit. Trying to call Annie was also something he probably should do before she stormed into his half destroyed apartment and ripped him a new one. A brief glance at his phone showed 25 unanswered voicemails, twice as many texts and even some emails (one from the Daily Globe sounded promising).

An aggravated sigh, and his thumbs punched in the familiar number, throwing himself down onto the debris littered couch as the dial tone clicked. Barely two rings in, and the crackled to life, “Eddie! Thank god you're okay - I lost sight of you both after the rocket launched. That was you right? That blew it up? Are you okay, do you need me to call Dan over?”

Eddie let the concerned tones of his ex-fiancee wash over him almost in relief, serving as a reminder and confirmation that he was in fact alive. It took a few seconds of silence for him to realize she'd stopped, just a harsh breathing down the phone and shook himself. “Yeah… yeah that was us. Drake and his rage monster are gone, I really fucking hope they’re gone. I know fire and sound are their weaknesses” He sighed, letting his head fall back against the couch and let his vacant expression rise to the ceiling. “I'm fine, Venom protected me from the blast - only got some scrapes from the rocket and hitting the water like a slab of concrete.” A moment's pause, a beat before she spoke again and it was quiet, half-hopeful, “And Venom?”

Something pinched in his ribcage as Eddie wondered what she was hopeful for - that Venom was okay, or that they were gone too. He let his mind wander, clumsily probing to see if the symbiote was okay but all he got was a soundless nudge of hurt in response. “I… I don't know.” He hated that he choked just a little, that after two days he could be that attached, that concerned for the alien goo now sharing his body. But even he can admit he's never felt so complete.

“Oh Eddie I'm sorry - but I mean maybe it's for the best. Dan said the results of your scan were bad, that it was eating you from the inside.” Eddie could just about hear her bite her lip, and he fought against the insane thrum of anger that she almost sounded _pleased_ that Venom was gone (he knows numbly that the alien had been killing him yes, that they ate people and were violent but they were also protective and funny in a weird way and had sacrificed themselves for the whole planet all because they'd loved **HIM** ).

“Whatever - it's over now. And personally I'm planning on sleeping for the next hundred years. You good?” An itch began around his chest, wet material of his shirt writhing a little as Venom shifted over his skin almost sluggishly. Eddie watched the movement in a detached sort of way as Anne gave a soft incredulous laugh and confirmed that she'd made her escape when the authorities arrived. Last thing she needed was anymore trouble caused by Eddie and his mistakes. With a quiet goodnight and a wrangled promise that he'd call her again tomorrow if anything happened (or at least Dan if he was going to be a baby about it), they hung up and silence permeated the apartment again.

There were distant sirens through the smashed window and fuck he had to fix up the whole place didn't he? Glass everywhere, broken furniture and trash all over the floor. It made him regret that the explosion hadn't put him out of his misery. That line of self-depreciation triggered a dull pulse from the black liquid under his skin, concern twisting with confusion as their thoughts started to tangle together again. In response he tugged at the edge of his soaked shirt, grimacing where it clung weirdly to his stomach from the wetness, and watched the symbiote shifting. Without meaning to, Eddie's mouth twitched upward at the sight before he resigned himself to the effort of getting up.

Clothes came off pretty quickly by the time he finally managed to haul himself away from the ruined couch cushion, a wet pile of fabric stinking of smoke and blood and fish. Definitely bound for the trash. Eddie spared a glance at the odd patches of ooze on his chest and down his left arm - Venom twitched over the skin softly and he left them to it. The bruises weren't as bad as he thought they should be, the largest injury left a glaring gash at his forehead that should've needed stitches. But who needed the hospital when your alien buddy could have it patched up in seconds. The hot water felt incredible on his aching back, muscles relaxing under the spray and body feeling the cleanest it's been in weeks. The first drops against the symbiote made them hiss quietly in displeasure, like a startled cat, and they retreated into his skin with a silent huff. Eddie watched blood trail slowly down the drain for a few minutes or it could have been hours, mind numb as the adrenaline made way for a bone deep fatigue. He pressed his forehead against the cool tile and let his eyes close to fight the pressure headache he felt building at his temples (a spike of pain that Venom couldn't fight).

It all still felt like some kind of nightmare, and if there wasn't the ever present curl of an alien mind against his own he'd believe it.

“You still with me buddy?” A murmur into the tile, Eddie twisted his head to aim a glance down as the alien crawled over his shoulder slowly. There was still no sign of the frankly terrifying floating face trick, so Eddie had no outward sign of how they were doing but the swathe of black curled upward to brush against his jaw in time with a pulse of greeting. Relief settled in his chest at the sight. He'd worried that after all that fire something about the symbiote would be damaged permanently.

The shower finally started to grow cold, and he cursed the building's poor heating as he twisted the faucet off and climbed out. The cool night air through the shattered window left goosebumps across his skin even as Venom began to warm him where they stretched across his shoulder blades and back. Towel tied firmly around his waist Eddie gave food a second thought, said a quiet fuck it and continued into his bedroom instead. He let his body all but collapse onto the sheets, sinking into the mattress in a manner not unlike the symbiote - he practically oozed.

Venom trickled down his arm where he pressed it into his pillow, danced between his fingers as he waved them a little to see what the alien would do. Mild affection flowed into him, along with a comforting warmth that permeated his whole body from the inside out. So the goo had other bonuses, besides the strength and speed and altogether badassery and fangs. Eddie watched his friend, surely they were friends now- partner was forced to his mind and small milky white irises blinked at him.

_**Sleep Eddie. We will heal.** _

And who was he to argue with them? He could barely keep his eyes open the longer they lay there, and as Venom curled silky black tendrils at odd points of his body, Eddie let his consciousness slip, knowing that the alien would keep watch, would protect them should any of Drake’s men still be alive and angry enough to want revenge.

The intricacies of his new life bonded with a symbiote could wait for tomorrow.


	2. A Never-ending Headache

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> asbhdj I didn't think this would get so popular so quickly! Thank you all for commenting/kudosing and generally just liking this fic oh my god I love you all. I don't really have a plan for this, or how regularly i'm gonna upload but uh I got bored and wrote this yesterday so enJOY.

Eddie woke to the sound of a blaring car horn, an aggressive band of sunlight across his face and a raging headache that punched a groan from him. He had no idea what time it was but it was most definitely too early for him to have to deal with this shit after night he’d had. Several muscles ache in protest when he moved to tentatively test them but there was no tug of a bruise down his chest, nor any sting from cuts so that was one thing at least. Venom had been a busy little goo monster while he slept. A sluggish hand to his forehead showed that even the gash was gone, no trace of dried blood when he brushed fingers over it.

Noticing that Eddie was finally awake the symbiote in question bubbled up across the palm of his hand to draw his attention. There were no words, as if Venom could sense that the squishy human really needed hush quiet time, but there was the unmistakable presence at the back of his mind. An inhuman growl that somehow managed to convey something along the lines of a good morning.

And that was never going to stop being weird.

He made no move to get up, simply let himself take stock of everything that had happened in the whirlwind of the last few days. A silent moment to think about how the fuck this was his life now. There’s more traffic and shouts from the window out in the main room, his door left slack and half open from the night before that he hadn’t cared about enough to close behind him before he passed out. From the brightness he can make an educated guess that it was somewhere in the region of mid-morning, maybe even noon. There’s certainly a large enough hole in his stomach to suggest at least one meal slot had been and gone. The answering grumble of hunger from Venom caused a small spike of panic but he shrugged it off. So long as they didn’t start to eat his organs before he had a chance to figure out a meal plan, it was a later problem. Like so many of his problems had become.

Rent? Definitely still a big issue, and one he can’t solve until he gets a job. Getting a job? Another issue that… might be solved? Something in his mind pings with a memory from last night, an email on his phone and oh shit his phone. Left abandoned on the floor in the other room with either a dead battery if he’s unlucky or a thousand pending phone calls and texts from people he barely remembers if he’s super unlucky.

Venom slid from his hand in a small tendril, pooling together until a somewhat reduced version of their face could linger before his own. Eddie tracked their movement groggily, brow knit gently at the sight of all their tiny fangs which was arguably an amusing if slightly worrying concept. Where was the rest of them?

If the symbiote had spent most of the night using their energy to fix up Eddie’s injuries, were they really still that bad off that even making this extension of themselves took too much energy? Maybe food was more of a problem for now.

“Alright time to face the music I guess.” Reluctancy in every line of him, Eddie practically rolled himself to get out of bed, legs tangled with the sheets enough to near-trip him had Venom not locked their limbs to the ground to steady them. He managed to send a jumbled mix of panic and gratitude at the void the alien occupied in his head which got him a sharp jab of smug amusement in return. What a jerk. Priorities waylaid briefly to put on some clothes after taking one look at his hastily replaced yet still broken front door, deciding that being caught naked in his own apartment wasn’t something Eddie wanted to deal with on top of everything else.

He shuffled through to the kitchen, hand snagging on a stray and disgustingly cold tater tot on the counter without him consciously thinking about it (duly noted - fried potato was acceptable sustenance for alien goo). It tasted disgusting but the pleased vibe he received from Venom kept him from saying anything. The symbiote probably heard him anyway, he realized absently, since he had no clear way of knowing exactly how much access they had to his thoughts.

In the light of the day his apartment looked a whole lot worse. Splinters and dust and broken glass littered the floor nearly everywhere and he was surprised he hadn’t cut himself open yet when he felt a subtle shift at the pad of his feet. Oh. Right. Overly protective symbiote in residence. At least his couch had sort of survived the massacre. His phone sat innocuously on the floor beside it, screen down and a big part of him wanted to ignore his responsibilities for a little longer - but a flash of him in the news building, standing before the open window and a hard cut to the elevators with the echo of  _ **pussy**_ had him snatching the phone up. He ignored what sounded suspiciously like inhuman laughter and twisted the screen up. The notifications weren’t quite as bad as he’d anticipated, but man were there a lot of missed calls from his folks.

Eddie could systematically sort through the chaos, kinda. Mentally making notes, he scrolled through the various texts from old colleagues and a few friends he had back in New York, through the voicemails of Anne (which got slightly more frantic the longer he’d left them before he called her), one from Dan asking him to swing by for a check-up when he felt up to it - not going to happen Dr. Dan - and a few from his mom, dad and sister. Those he’d follow up on, before they all started planning his fucking funeral.

The concept of, and sheer amount of concern shown in the hundreds of messages from practical strangers as well as his family served to confuse Venom a little, if the muddled swell he felt was anything to go by. Eddie silently added another to-do list to his mind, teaching the symbiote about humans now that the gore and action and shooting had finally stopped for a hot second.

He spent a few minutes scrounging around for his notepad, thrown underneath the remains of his table and half ripped but good enough, and started taking down people he had to chase up. Priorities being another call to Anne to figure out what the hell to do about Drake, the Life Foundation and the fact his story now looked pretty fucking accurate, as well as brushing Dan off his case before the doctor suggested another MRI or worse, _and_ well he had to start looking for a job. Again. Hell, maybe one of those emails was a gold star and a “please come back to us Eddie!” message from his old boss.

A man could dream.

_**Who is Landlord? They seem overly angry at us.** _

It startled him, but Eddie just about managed not to trip on a stray chunk of table at the sudden voice. “A little warning next time, hey?” But he got nothing in return, only a pulse to answer their question.

He winced when he opened the text fully, and the all-caps rant about the destruction of property, which was going to cost a _fuck ton_ according to the rat that called himself Eddie’s landlord, the noise complaints filed against him from the gunfire, and apparently the guy across the hall had sucked up the balls to report him for his Venom-outburst the other night. Oh, plus, of course, the ever elusive and ever increasing amount of rent he still owed. All it did was serve to make his headache worse.

_**Let’s eat him. Bite off his head. We bet he's crunchy and tasty.** _

“What?! Venom- I don’t, we can’t just go around biting people’s heads off their fucking _bodies_ when they piss us off.”

_**Why not?**_ Indignant at the thought their solution wasn’t the best line of action, Venom curled up and around Eddie’s neck. They stuck tendrils out to prod at his jaw and cheek along with a strong push to move forwards. Out the door and down the stairs to the man’s own apartment. And an overly gruesome mental image of sinking large fangs into flesh and bone, the taste of hot blood at the back of their throat.

“Because that’s _murder_ you asshole! I’m not even going to discuss this with you, shut up.” A sharp sting at his throat and Eddie had the insane urge to slap at the black liquid as if that’d actually do anything. Fucker had _**bit** _ him. “Fine, we can talk about it later. But man, we seriously need to work on your ability to compromise.”

He doesn’t say that secretly, he sort of wished they could just eat the irritating man and be done with it and he ignores the smugness radiating at the back of his head. Venom was a seriously bad influence on his psyche.

But the issue raised was an important one, and something Eddie needed to figure out relatively soon. They couldn’t keep living in the broken down and frankly disgusting building, couldn’t keep dodging the landlord and being careless, but they couldn’t afford rent anywhere better for the time being which left a sour taste in his mouth that couldn’t be attributed to the gross tater tot. An alien push in the muscles of his hand caused his thumb to twitch over the screen as Venom took control and a memory flashed behind his eyes, lighting upon the emails he’d flagged last night before they’d dragged themselves to bed.

_**The Daily Globe**_ stood out in bold among the spam. He hesitated over it, long enough that impatience grew in the symbiote twisting around his neck and he narrowly avoided another bite in his rush to open it. He read the email. He read it again. He stared out of the broken window into the San Francisco skyline, eyes glazed, and then read the email a third time.

_**This is good news yes?** _

Eddie smiled a little ruefully to himself and his alien companion, incredulous but vaguely hopeful after the shitshow of the last few days, “Yeah buddy, it’s great news. But uh, guess we gotta go over a few ground rules before you cause a scene in the middle of the interview. Can’t have us missing out on a job when you try to eat someone just for _looking_ at us the wrong way.”

_**… not even a small bite? They’d deserve it and we’re hungry Eddie.** _

“No biting! Ever! Jesus you’re like a big baby.” It was a weird thought. The he could tease the creature living inside his own head and hear it snap back with clueless offense ( _ **We are not an infant! Apologise!**_ ). But as he lifted a hand to affectionately pat the black goo at his shoulder, Eddie came to the conclusion that as far as his life went, this wasn’t the worst thing that could’ve happened. Not at all.


End file.
